THE uncertainty surrounding qualifications in Wales ratcheted up last night as UK Education Secretary Michael Gove unveiled plans to scrap GCSEs in England.

THE uncertainty surrounding qualifications in Wales ratcheted up last night as UK Education Secretary Michael Gove unveiled plans to scrap GCSEs in England.

The exam for 16-year-old children will be replaced by an English Baccalaureate Certificate (EBacc), with the first courses to begin in September 2015.

The new qualification will scrap the retaking of “modules” and is designed to reduce reliance on coursework and bring back tough end-of-year exams.

Children of all abilities will take the EBacc and there will be only one exam board for each subject, in order to prevent competition between boards to deliver tests which are easier to pass.

But there are no plans to adopt the new system in Wales, with the Welsh Government preferring instead to consider the outcome of its wide-ranging review into qualifications before making changes to GCSEs.

It comes as hundreds of pupils in Wales will today see their GCSE English language scores go up after an unprecedented re-grading process.

The Welsh Government has given Cardiff-based exam board WJEC until 5pm to issue new exam results to secondary schools.

Students who just missed out on a C grade in the summer will be awarded the higher grade after a change in methodology led to candidates from Wales being awarded lower marks than would normally be expected.

The vast majority of pupils entitled to a re-grade are expected to receive their new GCSE English language grades tomorrow.

Dr Philip Dixon, director of teaching union ATL Cymru, welcomed the development after several weeks’ uncertainty.

“The re-grade is good news for Welsh students, not only will it give them the grades that they would have got in any other year, but it will also ensure that future doors remain open to them,” he said.

“Only some sort of Scrooge figure would complain about that. As the dust settles it is important that they, and their parents and teachers, are allowed to move on.”

Furore surrounding this summer’s GCSE English language grades ignited after it emerged students who sat the exam in January were “graded generously” while the grade boundaries for exams sat in June were higher.

Mr Andrews’ decision to re-grade tainted papers is in stark contrast to England – where ministers have refused to intervene.

Ofqual, which regulates exams across the border, has instead offered students who took GCSE English exams in the summer the chance to re-sit later this year.

WJEC, which delivers exams in Wales and England, last night said it was “extremely interested” in helping develop the new EBacc qualification.

Wales is expected to take a different approach to that being adopted in England, with Education Minister Leighton Andrews “open minded” about Wales having its own qualifications system.

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